South Sudan’s independence was not achieved through the struggle of one man (Salva Kiir), a rebuttal to Peter Mayuk’s article

February 5, 2019 (SSNA) — In response to peter Mayuk’s article in which he attributed the whole liberation struggle to the efforts of the current president H.E Salva Mayardit, I would like to clarify to all of you that he was seeking the attention of president to his financial rescue. Cde Peter Mayuk betrayed and denied the roles played by over 2.5 million martyrs, heroes, and heroines who sacrificed their lives for the independence of our beloved country. He is a hand to mouth writer who doesn’t care about the inconveniences which may be caused by his articles to the public.

I have encapsulated in many of my articles that the attainment of our country’s independence was a collective effort of all the then southerners. All the southerners by then participated in the liberation struggle in five different ways. There were those who took up arms against the Islamic regimes in Khartoum, others remained in Islamic regime as spies for the movement, other went to Diaspora to mobilize funds for the movement, the ordinary civilians in the villages were providing logistic support and the spiritual leaders were supporting the movement spiritually.

All the South Sudanese deserve the right to recognition in the independence struggle. It is unfortunate for an opportunist in the person of Peter Mayuk to deny the efforts of our people in the liberation struggle for the sake of his stomach. This is the main reason why the current kleptocrats and aristocrats are holding our country hostage. These few kleptocrats see themselves as the only people who fought for the independence of South Sudan whenever they read the articles of Peter Mayuk and Mathiang Jalap. Cde Peter Mayuk is encouraging corruption in an indirect way for the sake of survival. Therefore it is better for him to adopt another dignified method of surviving instead of betraying the blood of our heroes and heroines who sacrificed their lives for the independence of South Sudan which the few thieves are enjoying today. Praising aristocrats is not the sole method of getting food in South Sudan. One can sustain his or her life by cultivating the fertile land, fishing in the lakes and rivers and even doing micro businesses rather than praising the corrupt aristocrats in the media.

Therefore, I am advising Cde Peter Mayuk to purchase a net, hook and other fishing equipment for fishing at Lol River in Bhar El Ghazal Region if there is no any other alternative method for sustaining his life apart from eulogizing the corrupt individuals in the media. Anyway, I will not blame him anymore. For a person to survive in Juba nowadays is not an easy task. It needs the sycophants like Peter Mayuk and Mathiang jalap to rush to the streets praising and shouting loudly the names of aristocrats like the members of Born Again Church who are always on the streets singing Thanksgiving songs to the God. However, the members of Born Again Church are better than the two sycophants because they are praising God not the thieves.

The writer is a Senior Human Right Activist. He can be reached via email: dengakokmuoradid@gmail.com.